The picture was posted November 1st, 2018 by Joshua on his Facebook the day before his injury.

Court Date: New Court Date TBA.

Maegan did not want to follow suit with starting a petition as the supporters of Joshua’s mother created a few months ago. Maegan believes that the Judge, the Court will go on the facts presented and a decision will be made based on those facts in the best interest of Joshua Jude Barras regardless of how many signatures are on a petition. This ‘petition’ is not an attempt to influence a decision but to show your support for Maegan.

This is for you Maegan. This is for you Joshua.

Why Court for Guardianship of Joshua Jude Barras?  After two years of no change in her husband’s medical condition, at the beginning of 2021, Maegan made the heartrending decision to bring her husband home on hospice to pass peacefully with dignity and respect. Joshua’s mother Kelly Barras then petitioned the court to become her son’s guardian. His mother plans to bring Joshua home as well but - hopes with intensive rehabilitative treatment and therapies that Joshua’s quality of life will improve.

Joshua is currently in a nursing home needing 24-hour care, he is bound-bed, unable to communicate verbally or non-verbally, unable to follow commands, and receives nourishment through a feeding tube.

Events Proceeding Joshua’s Medical Condition. On November 2nd of 2018, Joshua suffered a severe Anoxic Brain Injury. Anoxic Brain Injury occurs when the brain is completely deprived of oxygen - after about 4 minutes without oxygen brain cells start to die. The sooner emergency medical treatment is received, the better chance for recovery. The exact length of time Joshua was without oxygen is unknown: Joshua was in the custody of the Lafayette Police Department and off camera for about 20mns. He was found unconscious by a Corrections Officer in a handicap stall of a bathroom with a shoestring around his neck that was tied onto a grab bar.

“Josh has now been in a coma reaching the 48-72 hr mark.  They say it’s a severe anoxic brain injury. As of now, no changes with minimal brain activity, keep him strong in prayer.” November 4th, 2018. Maegan posted on her Facebook

Diagnosis and Prognosis.  At that time, as well as currently, several medical professionals diagnosis and prognosis for Joshua is that he is in a Persistent Vegetative State and that recovery from, or improvement of, is near to impossible.

Joshua spent the first four weeks in the hospital then was moved to a nursing home.  Joshua was not admitted to the nursing home with orders such as physical therapy or rehabilitative treatment but just for the care of his basic needs. Maegan and her mother-in-law were told that what they were seeing with Joshua was all they were going to get.

Early on both Maegan and her mother-in-law would not accept the prognosis. Maegan set out on a mission to get her husband back. In the beginning, there appeared to be a bit of hope for Joshua’s recovery.  December 20th, 2018, Maegan captured a smile from Joshua, and another smile on January 21st, 2019 when Maegan got on video Joshua smiling, in response to her asking him to smile.  

December 20th, 2018.“Look who’s smiling tonight…How’s that for a praise report!”  Maegan Barras. Facebook.

Before Joshua’s ABI, Maegan knew nothing about Anoxic Brain Injury but was determined to find help for her husband despite what she was being told by medical professionals.  Maegan learned as much as she could about ABI’s, she joined brain injury support groups for resources and support, and in her research, she came across a therapy called ‘Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy or HBOT for short.  With this therapy, brain cells that have died can regrow, Maegan read and heard many success stories.  There was now even more hope for her husband’s recovery.

During the 1st year (2019) after Joshua’s injury, Maegan faced several obstacles in getting Joshua this therapy, along with a few setbacks. While Joshua’s mother was right there supporting Maegan’s efforts, it was Maegan alone trying to overcome the obstacles to get this treatment that could potentially help her husband make a recovery. 

February 2019: The HBOT treatment would not be covered by Joshua’s insurance and Joshua would possibly need up to 8 weeks of this treatment - a full 40 sessions. Maegan started a Gofund me.  

February of 2019: Maegan was wrongfully arrested. Mom arrested for posting video of Acadiana High School fight breaks silence; here's her story | News | theadvocate.com

A local HBOT treatment provider reached out to Maegan after reading Maegan’s arrest story in the paper offering HBOT treatment for Joshua.   Joshua was only able to get two treatments due to Joshua not tolerating the treatments well – he coughed and coughed so the treatments needed to be stopped. At this time Joshua still had a Trach in, the Trach would need to be removed as this was believed to be the cause of Joshua’s coughing.

Meanwhile…

There was the major issue of the location of the nursing home Joshua was in at the time. It was an hour and a half away from an HBOT treatment center that would accept Trach patients (it was very limited on providers that would accept Trach patients) and the nursing home was about the same distance away from where Maegan lived.  Maegan tried and tried to get Joshua moved to another nursing home closer to a treatment center: Denial after denial came in from several nursing homes to get Joshua transferred.

June 7th, 2019: Maegan’s father unexpectedly passed.

September 15, 2019:  Maegan was live on Facebook with Joshua sharing the excitement that progress was being made towards the Trach removal.   Maegan talked about how Joshua is still considered to be in a Vegetative State-“they say” he is making no purposeful movements but the hope is with HBOT the brain cells will regrow the brain tissue and give him his brain activity back. Maegan recalls this moment - "Where Kelly (Joshua's mother) and the others are, is where I was."

September 23rd, 2019 “Today was a very special day..After close to a year of constant speed bumps in our road to recovery, we have gotten across that one that has kept us from reaching the next… Trach was successfully and completely removed, meaning he’s functioning completely out of his nose and mouth!! …Turn your wounds into wisdom.”  Maegan. Facebook.

October 2019.“Prayer warriors… Josh’s trach was removed and is completely healed, Now to get him accepted to a facility to start treatments.”   Maegan Barras. Facebook.

November 19th, 2019 “Guess who is starting treatments? This guy.  With the right set of mind, with the right people, with the right support, things happen.” Maegan. Facebook.

Even with the Trach now removed Joshua was still turned down for HBOT treatment with providers that said they didn’t accept patients with a Trach. 

(With Joshua’s mother now wanting to step up and actively take part in Joshua’s care, this past November Joshua’s mother experienced her first unsuccessful attempt (as Maegan experienced repeatedly during the 1st year going into the 2nd year) at just simply attempting to get Josh evaluated for  HBOT treatment- the appointment needed to be canceled due to Josh being wheelchair-bound and unable to step into the chamber that would be needed for treatment.)

And then ultimately starting into the 2nd year, 2020 when Covid shut the world down. Maegan was unable to see her husband from March 2020 until October 2020 – for  7 long months, only virtual visits during this time, and when visits started back - Maegan needed to be at least 6 ft from her husband due to Covid restrictions. Sadly, due to no fault of her own, Maegan lost precious time working towards the recovery of her husband. During this time Joshua’s physical condition severely deteriorated.

Now Three Years Later. Maegan finally came to acceptance of the initial prognosis as there has been no change, no progress while she painfully watches the deterioration of her husband. Maegan lives with the fear daily that her husband will pass in the nursing home, alone, from a bed-bound illness (a reality such as pneumonia) or because Josh is young (now 37 years old and was healthy at the time of his ABI), another reality is he can remain in this same state for years. 

This past summer one of Megan’s fears became a reality: With Josh unable to communicate, and not picked up on by the nursing home staff or his mother who had just visited her son the day before, it was Maegan who knew instantly something was seriously wrong with her husband. Joshua was then sent to the hospital, released that same day only to be admitted to the hospital two days later as he began vomiting, Joshua’s appendix had ruptured. For those of us who have been following Joshua and Maegan’s story, it was heartbreaking thinking about what Josh may have gone through as well for Maegan knowing how much she loves her husband, there was nothing she could do to help him, and this was one of her fears.

Maegan continues to visit her husband as she has since the beginning – she bathes him, shaves him, snuggles with him, and has a movie night with him on occasion. She decorates his room for the holidays. She has a camera set up in his room so she can watch over him. Regarding monitoring the camera, Maegan has a few stories of needing to call the nursing home due to Joshua’s feeding machine being left accidentally unplugged, another story of needing to call the nursing to ask them to bring Joshua back to his room as he was left in a visiting area for several hours after a visit with his mother.

Blessings Coming out of Joshua’s and Maegan’s unfortunate story. Since Josh’s Anoxic Brain Injury Maegan has been advocating for living wills (Josh did not have one), she has promoted suicide awareness, educating on death with dignity under the care of hospice.  Maegan receives messages daily (private messages or people commenting on the videos she shares on her TikTok) – these messages are either encouraging messages of support or heartfelt messages from people who thank her, thank Joshua, for sharing their story. People have made living wills as a result and for others, it has been an emotional eye-opener that suicide is not the answer. And yet messages still from others who too were faced with the decision to let a loved one go.  

More of Maegan and Joshua’s story and Maegan’s journey can be found by googling Maegan and Joshua Barras, or on Maegan’s TikTok. Link below.

Please free feel to leave a message of support here for the Barras’s or share how your life has been impacted by Joshua’s story.  Your signature is a show of support for Maegan in honoring what she believes her husband would want.

One last note

Maegan and her mother-in-law are no longer speaking. What once appeared to be a team effort that Joshua would have been thankful for, is now a division between Maegan and her mother-in-law. Maegan and Joshua have their passionate supporters, and Joshua's mother and Joshua have their very passionate supporters as well.  And the only one who hasn't had a voice is Joshua. Now it will be the Court to be a voice for him. 

Maegan has received a lot of hate for now standing up for what she believes her husband would want - she has been stalked, her children have been stalked, she has been harassed, her character assassinated from one end to the other, her motives have been questioned, friends won’t come to her house for fear that they will end up social media, and currently, Maegan is waiting for a court hearing in February regarding obtaining a restraining order against one of her harassers. Supporters of Joshua’s mother (who state they are friends of his mother) have even gone as far as stalking and harassing several of Maegan’s supporters – their pictures have been blasted on social media, pictures of their families (children), pictures of their homes sent to them, and vile private messages sent to them.   A few of their social media sites have been found in violation of the site’s community standards for bullying and harassment and hate speech.

Maegan remained strong and determined when faced with the obstacles of trying to get her husband on the road to recovery, just as now today remaining resolute in her acceptance that it’s time to let Joshua be at peace knowing that the life he is living today is not how he would have wanted to live.  

“I do believe however that the strength and ability to go on each day as a caregiver to a spouse is from digging deep and remembering life before it happened, from knowing the person you are caring for is the one who would have done it for you unconditionally.” May 5th, 2019. Maegan Barras. Facebook.

(just an fyi as a few have made donations connecting to this petition and to clear up any confusion: You do not need to make a donation to sign the petition.  Any donations made here on change.org go directly to change.org to support this wonderful free site and help to promote this petition).

Control+Click to follow the link

• Suicide Prevention Life Line 1-800-273-8255
• Living Will Info - Mayo Clinic
• How To Write a Living Will
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy - Mayo Clinic
• Maegans TikTok - Video's of Joshua
• Maegan and Kelly on Dr Phil Show